Peninsula child psychiatrist to be tried again for molesting patients, judge says

REDWOOD CITY -- A once-celebrated Bay Area child psychiatrist is again headed to trial on charges he molested patients after a judge ruled Wednesday he manipulated mental health experts to avoid prosecution.

The stunning development resuscitates a long-running criminal case that appeared dead over a year ago when doctors agreed dementia had left William Ayres, 80, of San Mateo mentally incompetent for trial.

But San Mateo County Superior Court Judge John Grandsaert, after a four-day hearing, concluded Ayres is mentally fit to stand trial. He fixed a March 2013 trial date and also set Ayres' bail at $900,000, which drew no reaction from the former doctor who remained seated in a wheelchair with downcast eyes.

Defense attorney Jonathan McDougall said he will look into "all possible legal avenues," including an appeal of the judge's decision. He also plans to request a hearing on the bail amount, which he considered excessive.

Ayres was tried once on the allegations he used the guise of physical and genital exams on five young boys in his care as a way to molest them. That trial ended with a hung jury in July 2009. Prosecutors decided to retry on him nine counts of molestation, but Ayres was ruled incompetent and was sent to Napa State Hospital, putting the criminal case in limbo. The prosecution believes there were more than 30 victims.

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In explaining his ruling, Grandsaert said one of the key factors was a July report from a Napa hospital forensic psychologist who said Ayres faked or at least exaggerated dementia. The report from John McIlnay said Ayres, while committed at the hospital, was able to do mental tasks his diagnosis of Alzheimer's-related dementia would have made very unlikely.

Some examples include:

The nurse who filled out Ayres' admission forms at Napa, said he spelled "Alzheimer's" for her when she couldn't remember how.

When Ayres returned to Napa from a court hearing in San Mateo County, he asked a nursing supervisor if he still had the same room and then walked right to it.

Ayres immediately recognized and greeted by name a psychiatrist he hadn't seen in over a year. The psychiatrist testified: "I think it slipped, that he remembered my name, frankly."

Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan said in her closing arguments Ayres engaged in a "grotesque manipulation of the system." She said he used his lifetime of psychiatric knowledge, including two decades working as a forensic psychiatrist for San Mateo County, to fool his interviewers.

Before being committed to Napa, Ayres' diagnosis was based on scheduled interviews with psychiatrists. He had never been under 24-hour observation until he was committed to Napa in October 2011, McKowan said. The one-time president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry simply provided his examiners with the appropriate symptoms, she added.

Ayres' defense argued a dozen mental health professionals who'd examined him, including his two doctors at Napa, were convinced he suffers from dementia. The defense contrasted that with the single report, which accused Ayres of malingering, the psychiatric term for faking.

"Is Dr. McIlnay's report more likely correct than all the other doctors?" asked attorney Josh Bentley, one of Ayres' attorneys. "I would submit to you that it is not."

Based on Ayres' record of never missing a prior court appearance, the defense sought bail of $750,000 or less. McKowan argued that given Ayres' apparent deception, the amount should be $2 million.

In setting the bail at $900,000, Grandsaert noted his concerns about Ayres "returning to court and his safety." The judge cited Ayres' statement that he would like to "hide" with his wife or kill himself as opposed to go to trial. Grandsaert also noted a worry that Ayres could try to "manipulate" witnesses in order to avoid prosecution.

Ayres remained in jail Wednesday, where's been since being sent back to San Mateo County from Napa hospital in the summer..